Parts Of SoCal Reach 30 Inches Of Rain As OC Tops Seasonal Averages

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Heavy rains once again wreaked havoc on Southern California over the weekend, causing road closures and rescue efforts in Orange County and surrounding areas.

This rainy season has been unusually heavy for all of Orange County with recent rainfall totals ranging between 6 and nearly 20 inches — considerably more than the county's annual average of about 12-13 inches.

Orange County is already well over its average rainfall for January and December. Most of Orange County saw between 4 and 8 inches over seasonal averages for the last 60 days.

Areas around Orange County, such as the neighboring Palomar Mountains, have surpassed 20 inches in seasonal rain totals, and the San Gabriel Mountains saw over 30 inches of rain in the last 60 days.

The rainfall over the weekend was record-breaking for Southern California in a number of places, including downtown Los Angeles, LAX and the Long Beach airport area, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Relentless storms have battered California from the day after Christmas through Monday, killing at least 20 people and causing billions of dollars worth of destruction to public and private property, damage that in some cases will take months or years to repair.

Tallying the damage will take time, but the number of homes and other structures that will be red-tagged as uninhabitable could be in the "low thousands," said Brian Ferguson, spokesperson for the Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

Orange County saw a number of road closures due to high flood risk over the weekend. A woman in Laguna Hills was rescued Saturday after hanging onto a tree in a creek with fast-moving water. Orange County saw higher rainfall numbers during this storm than its Los Angeles County and Ventura neighbors, according to KTLA.

A man in Cypress was rescued on Sunday as he hung onto an embankment, The Orange County Register reported. He was reportedly attached to a floatation device and pulled through a fence out of a channel near Knott Avenue and Recycle Way.

Orange and Los Angeles County beaches were also pummeled by the storm, prompting a number of surf advisories and flooding.

Residents in nearby Ventura County were evacuated via helicopter after the area saw 17 inches of rainfall over just one week, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In Los Angeles, a tree fell down in Woodland Hills damaging over a dozen cars, KTLA reported. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Friday declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles to aid storm damage repair efforts.

The intensity of both storms have left many wondering whether California's ongoing drought could have improved in recent weeks. The U.S. Drought Monitor’s weekly update released last week showed that “extreme” drought has been virtually eliminated a week after the worst category — “exceptional” — was washed off the map. Two weeks ago extreme drought covered 35% of California.

The Drought Monitor characterized the improvement as a significant reduction in drought intensity but cautioned that large parts of the state have moisture deficits that have been entrenched for two or three years.

Most of the state is now in the “severe” or “moderate” categories of drought, with small areas in the far northwest and far southeast in a status described as “abnormally dry,” which is the lowest level.

Locally, some reservoirs have seen significant rises in water levels but there are still significant deficits to overcome.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.